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No One Owns the Moon

â€œThe legal status of the moon is currently defined by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty of the United Nations.â€

But he added: â€œThereâ€™s a strong case for developing international law in this area because in 1967 it was not envisaged that anyone other than nation states would be able to explore the moon. Clearly that is changing now and there is a case for developing the outer space treaty to include private organisations that may wish to explout the moon.â€

He said there was also a case for developing the treaty in light of private companies who may in the future want to mine the moon for its minerals, but that it was unnecessary to worry about this at the moment as scientific exploration was still ongoing.

Ian Crawford, professor of planetary science at Birkbeck College (UK) as quoted in The Telegraph.